Virtual universes or virtual worlds are computer-based simulated environments intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars, which are personas or representations of the users of the virtual universes and generally take the form of two-dimensional or three-dimensional human or fantastical representations of a person's self. One well known virtual universe is Second Life which is a trademark of Linden Research in the United States, other countries or both. Avatars in these types of virtual universes participate in a wide range of business and social experiences with other avatars and resources such as landmarks, events, retail stores, services, etc.
As the number of avatars and resources proliferate in virtual universes, users of these universes will increasingly rely on search and retrieval systems to discover relevant resources for facilitating these business and social experiences. Typical virtual universes use simple search and retrieval systems to perform straightforward text searches. Search and retrieval systems that employ simple text searches often do not provide the most relevant results. In order to obtain better results, users will often have to supply additional information to enhance the search. This is frustrating to users because they typically have limited time, patience, ability and interest to provide this information. Because it is frustrating for users to obtain information on resources available in virtual universes through currently available search and retrieval systems, users will often attempt to obtain such information from other users through their avatars. However, this is not a suitable option because often times other avatars are not aware of all resources that could be the subject of an inquiry or if they do have some knowledge then it comes at cost with regard to time and quantity at which information is conveyed to the interested avatar. Thus, current approaches to discovering relevant resources in a virtual universe are not suited to enhancing business and social experiences of avatars.